Cancer is one of the most common causes of death in developed countries. Despite continuing advances, most existing cancer treatments have undesirable side effects and limited efficacy. Identifying new effective anti-cancer drugs has always been the focus of cancer research.
Imidazolamino compounds have been demonstrated in animal models of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus to both improve insulin sensitivity and promote weight loss selectively from adipose tissue. Indeed, some of them are anti-diabetic drugs. See, e.g., J. Med. Chem., 2001, 44, 1231–1248. However, no imidazolamino compounds have been reported to possess anti-cancer activities.